El Aula
55 activitiesStories your students read, hear and answer. Every wrong pick gets marked, every right one stays. Ten to fifteen minutes each.
Walk inGrité “¡Viva México!” tres veces, y del cielo cayó una lluvia de papelitos tricolores.
las habitaciones
Every room has something real in it.
Nothing here is a mockup of a lesson. Open a door and you are inside one.
GrammarPop
18 lessonsThe grammar your book explains in a gray box, taught the way you explain it at the whiteboard.
Walk in
Día de sub
free, alwaysBuilt for the morning you wake up sick at 6am. Drop it on your sub's desk and walk out.
6 pages. Free.
Leave it on the desk
y vete a casa.
Escucha
76 recordingsThis is what your kids hear. Each recording is cut to the lesson it belongs to, so there is no hunting on YouTube at 7am.
El partido de Messi
Two voices, Novice Mid
0:00 / 0:00
La llamada de la abuela
Listening task, Intermediate
0:00 / 0:00
Mi primer día
Listening task, Novice
0:00 / 0:00
Mercado
22 lessons and unitsThe printed ones. Units, movie guides, AP packs. Print tonight, teach tomorrow.
Find mine
pruébalo ahora
One question, right here.
Ser or estar. This is exactly what a student sees inside GrammarPop, feedback included.
Mi abuela de Oaxaca, pero ahora en Paterson.
Two blanks. Pick one.
lo que dice la investigación
Why the rooms look like this.
Four sources, what each one says, and the room where you'll see it.
01 / 04 · Input
“
“Language teaching helps second language acquisition when it supplies comprehensible input, which is the true cause of second language acquisition.”
Where you'll see it: Escucha, 76 recordings, and El Aula, 55 activities.
Book · Pergamon · 1982
Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition
Stephen D. Krashen · p. 34
Read the book, free from the author
Justo ahora
Me lo hago yo
Ya te lo di
Ya pasó02 / 04 · Grammar
1.13
Explicit grammar teaching averaged an effect size of 1.13 in Norris and Ortega's meta-analysis. Implicit teaching averaged 0.54.
Where you'll see it: GrammarPop, 18 lessons.
Language Learning · 2000 · vol. 50, no. 3
Effectiveness of L2 Instruction: A Research Synthesis and Quantitative Meta-analysis
John M. Norris and Lourdes Ortega · pp. 417-528
Read the study55 El Aula activities
El último colectivo
Rompió el empate
¿Qué dijo?
¿Qué hiciste el finde?
Saqué mil fotos
Pidió mole
03 / 04 · Reading
34
Thirty-four studies of extensive reading, pooled. Students who read a lot of easy text beat comparison groups by an average effect of 0.46, and their own starting scores by 0.71.
Where you'll see it: El Aula, stories your students read, hear and answer.
TESOL Quarterly · 2015 · vol. 49, no. 1
A Meta-Analysis of Extensive Reading Research
Takayuki Nakanishi · pp. 6-37
Read the studyEl Aula's 55 activities, by level
- Novice Low1
- Novice Mid2
- Novice High10
- Intermediate Low13
- Intermediate Mid14
- Intermediate Mid–High4
- Intermediate High3
- Advanced4
4 more are labeled AP.
04 / 04 · Levels
Novice Mid
51 of the 55 El Aula activities carry a level named in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, revised in 2024.
Where you'll see it: El Aula, on each activity.
Guidelines · ACTFL · 2024
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2024
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
quién vive aquí
A collective of teachers built this house.
Ten of us: classroom teachers, teacher educators and university researchers.
Olúwafẹ́mi Adékáyọ̀déProfessor of Spanish and Hispanic studies (UK)
Federico Aguilar-SosaAP and IB Spanish teacher
Lucía Beltrán-YnoaSociolinguist, professor of Spanish education
Iván Castillo-LemaSpanish linguist, university faculty (Europe)
Jon CataldiHigh school Spanish teacher
Bex CrawfordModern foreign languages teacher educator
Sole Mejía-TrujilloHeritage Spanish teacher
Anh Nguyễn-CortezApplied linguist, teacher educator
Mariana Restrepo-OrtizApplied linguist, university Spanish faculty
Cate Ruiz-VélezDual-language elementary teacher
una casa, seis idiomas
Spanish is open. The other five are being built the same way.
Same rooms, same care, in each language's own words. No door opens before there is something real behind it.
Españolpasa, profeabierto55 activities · 18 grammar lessons · 76 recordings · 22 printed lessonsEntra
- Françaisentrez, profin the works
- Italianoentra, profin the works
- Latineintra, magisterin the works
- 中文老师，请进in the works
- ASLcome inin the works
Teach one of these? Open its door and tell us what your room needs first.
dinos qué necesitas
Tell us what you need.
I teach
and I need
about
22 things fit.
Novice Mid–HighGratisDramatización en parejaA sub plan kids run themselves, using the vocab already in their binder. Zero prep.Sub Plan6 pagesNovice Mid
$7Me Gusta con MessiOne class period on gustar. Kids who don't care about Spanish suddenly care about Messi.Single Lesson7 pagesIntermediate Mid–High
$22La NomofobiaFour days on phone addiction: a real article, the subjunctive, and a campaign they design.Mini-Unit14 pagesIntermediate Mid–High
$12Los MandatosTú, usted and negative commands in 6 to 10 days. Pacing and rubrics are done, the activities are yours.Grammar Pack24 pagesIntermediate Low
$14DOPs + IOPsDirect and indirect object pronouns taught as one system instead of two disconnected chapters.Grammar Pack28 pagesNovice High
$18Argentina Country PackTango, Messi, Cortázar, asado, voseo. An Argentina thread you pull all year.Country Pack32 pagesNovice High
$12Autoevaluación, in SpanishCan-do self-checks and project debriefs, all in Spanish. Use them once or twice a unit.Methodology Pack22 pagesAdvanced
$16AI Ethics in SpanishFive days of AP-level talk about ChatGPT, bias and academic integrity. All in Spanish.Mini-Unit18 pagesNovice Low
$14Back-to-School Night PackParent-night handouts and slides for Spanish 1 through AP, ready for September.Methodology Pack26 pagesNovice Mid
$24Backward Design for World LanguagesThe textbook chapter is not the unit. Six unit templates, one for every ACTFL level.Methodology Pack17 pagesNovice Mid
$30Integrated Performance AssessmentSix ready-to-give IPAs from Novice Mid up, with four rubrics.Methodology Pack22 pagesNovice Mid
$24Error Correction PackSeven correction sheets and a journal-corrections system that fits in 30 minutes.Methodology Pack22 pagesAP
$35Las familias y las comunidadesTwenty days on family across México, Argentina and Spain, in all three modes.Unit28 pagesAP
$22AP Free Response PackAll four AP free-response tasks. 12 prompts, 4 rubrics, 4 model responses.Assessment22 pagesAP
$20AP / IB Listening PackSix AP listening worksheets, one per theme, plus IB Individual Oral templates.Assessment18 pagesAP
$35La ciencia y la tecnologíaTwenty days on sustainability, social media and nomofobia, ending in a campaña viral.Unit28 pagesAP
$20AP Cultural Comparison PackAP Task 4 drill. Eight prompts, two 5/5 model responses, 12 sentence frames.Assessment18 pagesNovice Mid
$28Hispanic Heritage MonthFive days for Sept 15 to Oct 15. Famous figures, music, food and traditions, led by student questions.Unit28 pagesNovice Mid
$18Día de los MuertosThree days on Mexico's most misunderstood holiday. Ofrenda project, no Halloween conflation.Mini-Unit18 pagesAP
$15IB & AP Rubric PackEditable IB and AP rubrics for speaking and writing. Drop into Google Classroom and grade.Rubric Pack12 pagesAP
$197AP Spanish StarterA full year of AP Spanish. 36 weekly micro-units across all six themes.Year-Long220 pagesNovice High
$12Coco Movie GuideTasks for before, during and after Coco, built around student inquiry.Movie Guide16 pages
GratisDramatización en parejaA sub plan kids run themselves, using the vocab already in their binder. Zero prep.Sub Plan6 pagesNovice Mid$7Me Gusta con MessiOne class period on gustar. Kids who don't care about Spanish suddenly care about Messi.Single Lesson7 pagesIntermediate Mid–High$22La NomofobiaFour days on phone addiction: a real article, the subjunctive, and a campaign they design.Mini-Unit14 pagesIntermediate Mid–High$12Los MandatosTú, usted and negative commands in 6 to 10 days. Pacing and rubrics are done, the activities are yours.Grammar Pack24 pagesIntermediate Low$14DOPs + IOPsDirect and indirect object pronouns taught as one system instead of two disconnected chapters.Grammar Pack28 pagesNovice High$18Argentina Country PackTango, Messi, Cortázar, asado, voseo. An Argentina thread you pull all year.Country Pack32 pagesNovice High$12Autoevaluación, in SpanishCan-do self-checks and project debriefs, all in Spanish. Use them once or twice a unit.Methodology Pack22 pagesAdvanced$16AI Ethics in SpanishFive days of AP-level talk about ChatGPT, bias and academic integrity. All in Spanish.Mini-Unit18 pagesNovice Low$14Back-to-School Night PackParent-night handouts and slides for Spanish 1 through AP, ready for September.Methodology Pack26 pagesNovice Mid$24Backward Design for World LanguagesThe textbook chapter is not the unit. Six unit templates, one for every ACTFL level.Methodology Pack17 pagesNovice Mid$30Integrated Performance AssessmentSix ready-to-give IPAs from Novice Mid up, with four rubrics.Methodology Pack22 pagesNovice Mid$24Error Correction PackSeven correction sheets and a journal-corrections system that fits in 30 minutes.Methodology Pack22 pagesAP$35Las familias y las comunidadesTwenty days on family across México, Argentina and Spain, in all three modes.Unit28 pagesAP$22AP Free Response PackAll four AP free-response tasks. 12 prompts, 4 rubrics, 4 model responses.Assessment22 pagesAP$20AP / IB Listening PackSix AP listening worksheets, one per theme, plus IB Individual Oral templates.Assessment18 pagesAP$35La ciencia y la tecnologíaTwenty days on sustainability, social media and nomofobia, ending in a campaña viral.Unit28 pagesAP$20AP Cultural Comparison PackAP Task 4 drill. Eight prompts, two 5/5 model responses, 12 sentence frames.Assessment18 pagesNovice Mid$28Hispanic Heritage MonthFive days for Sept 15 to Oct 15. Famous figures, music, food and traditions, led by student questions.Unit28 pagesNovice Mid$18Día de los MuertosThree days on Mexico's most misunderstood holiday. Ofrenda project, no Halloween conflation.Mini-Unit18 pagesAP$15IB & AP Rubric PackEditable IB and AP rubrics for speaking and writing. Drop into Google Classroom and grade.Rubric Pack12 pagesAP$197AP Spanish StarterA full year of AP Spanish. 36 weekly micro-units across all six themes.Year-Long220 pagesNovice High$12Coco Movie GuideTasks for before, during and after Coco, built around student inquiry.Movie Guide16 pages